


Just this once, Everybody lives.

by ChuckStruck23



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Everybody Lives, F/M, Hansen Family Feels, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Team as Family, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-15
Updated: 2014-09-15
Packaged: 2018-02-17 11:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2308529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChuckStruck23/pseuds/ChuckStruck23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sort of a prequel to my Archangels and Russian Vodka series. The story behind the survival of the Jaeger teams that would have fallen in a cannon compliant world.</p><p>Or how Herc was unable to keep from losing everything, before miraculously getting it all back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just this once, Everybody lives.

**Author's Note:**

> The point of writing this was to get rid of the writers block I have hit in writing Amirina's side of events for Archangels and Russian Vodka. I just need to get this part out of my head to continue there, because it's been bugging me how brief I made everyone else's survival story.

Herc was stunned when Crimson Typhoon went down in the battle of Hong Kong, with two of its three arms completely torn off and several hull breaches that culminated in the flood of the entire jeager. From where he stood, unable to move without disobeying Stacker's orders, the fall of the mighty Mark IV looked fatal, especially when the damage to the Jaeger included one huge tear in the hull of the con-pod. 

But his mind was not on cost of repairs or how hard it would be to retrieve the Jaeger. His mind was solely on the pilots. He and Chuck had not known the Wei Tang Clan for very long, but they were pilots. They were PPDC. They were family.

And now it looked like they were gone.

-Damn it Stacks! Bloody orders! Bloody Kaiju! We could have saved them! We could have saved them all! So what if it scratched the paintwork a bit!- Herc though angrily as he felt Chuck mirror the sentiment through the drift.

Unseen by Herc however, the quick actions of Cheung, the oldest triplet, when it came to activating the escape pods that had saved them all from certain death. Just moments after the pod began to activate, Leatherback let lose its secret weapon. The EMP surges through both air and water alike and fried all electrical circuits in the Mark 4 jeager, including the life pod beacons, leaving the triplets trapped and drifting. That was how they stayed, not even able to communicate between themselves, relying on the ghost drift to reassure them of the survival of the others until a local fishing boat picked them up in one of its trawler nets.

Herc and the Chinese crew had given up all hope and had been mourning the loss of the triplets, Cheung, Hu, and Jin, for nearly four hours when a miracle occurred in the form of all three walking in the bay doors with barely a scratch on them. 

They were put into separate rooms as all manner of tests were run on them to check for anything more than the odd scrape or bruise, but this did not bother them as it usually would and they didn't put up a fight. They all relaxed in their rooms, and using the ghost drift between them they reflected inwardly on the happy feeling they had experienced when they saw Ranger Herc Hansen the first time that afternoon. 

The all remembered the warm feeling that accompanied the smile as he gave them each a slap on the back, a proud and relieved look in his eyes for their return.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CS23~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

He was completely helpless harnessed into the Con-Pod of Striker Eureka as they went down, only able to listen to the horror unfolding and watch from a distance as the Rangers he had known since the Mark I glory days sunk beneath the waves.

The screech of buckling metal was dulled only by the sound of rushing water as the Cod-Pod of the great Cherno Alpha steadily filled with water. Both Aleksis and Sasha spluttered and struggled valiantly against their harnesses, movement restricted by their heavy drive suits. 

"Hang on Cherno, We're coming" they barely heard Herc frantically yell to them through their com-link.

-We will get through this- Aleksis promised her through the neural link.

-Of course we will- Sasha replied -We're Russian are we not? We will never give up, we will never surrender. We will die fighting and then we will rise again and fight some more!-

With that reminder, Aleksis heaved in one last breath before he was completely submerged. With a final yank his harness gave into the strain and broke. He swam frantically to Sasha's harness and ripped the connection to her drive suit apart before kicking the hatch in Cherno's back open and propelling both of them to the surface. less than a millisecond later they both felt the explosion as Cherno gave in to the pressure of Leatherback's foot on his chest.

Aleksis, completely spent from his rescue attempts, could only watch on as Sasha found the floating hatch door that he had kicked open earlier and somehow man-handled him up onto it as she hung onto the side. He wondered vaguely if he should be protesting that this was not how the movie Titanic had ended, but before he could tell her there was more than enough room for two on their life raft, a salvage team spotted them and hurried them back to the 'Dome. They survived the incessant poking and prodding of the medical team without incident when they returned to base only because they were both too tired to put up a real fight. 

At least that's what they claimed. It had certainly nothing to do with the way their friend, Ranger Herc Hansen, stood there in the examination room, an immovable object despite the nurse's protests, with a concerned and stern look on his face that was usually reserved solely for his wayward son, daring them to try and pull anything. 

They were tired. That was their story and they were sticking to it.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CS23~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It took everything he had not to double over into a ball on the floor of LOCCENT and cry. There were literally no words to describe the pain that coursed through him, at least a billion times more painful than the greatest pain imaginable multiplied by the square of the greatest pain imaginable squared.

Striker had just been blown up to clear the way when the payload jammed. 

Stacker was gone.

-Oh god, not Stacks! not him! please! NO! god! Mako!-

Chuck was gone.

-NO! NOT MY SON, you can't have my son! NOOOOOO! Why'd you have to take my son!-

Angela would never forgive him.

-I am so, so, sorry-

Neither would Mako.

Raleigh's voice interrupted his sorrow announcing they were going to finish the run for the breach. Herc squared his shoulders with only one thought running through his mind.

-Revenge better taste as sweet as it's been made out to.-

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CS23~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Herc Hansen stood distraught and with a heavy heart in LOCCENT and watched as Ranger Raleigh Becket broke the drift, sending Mako up to the surface in her escape pod with the last of the oxygen. It was worrying enough that Becket was solo drifting again, but what was he going to do now?

Herc vaguely heard Raleigh mutter something about anyone being able to fall and suddenly realized exactly what he was going to do.

-Becket! Raleigh! NO! DON'T YOU DARE!- Herc screamed in his mind, unable to do anything out loud because of the position of command he was in. -I promised Yancy in Manila that I would look after you if anything happened to him! I already failed once when you went to the wall! Don't let me fail again! Please Becket! NO! Think of Mako! Already lost Chuck and Stacks, can't lose anyone else! NO!-

But it was too late. Gipsy had been sent into nuclear meltdown in the Anteverse with the intention of closing the breach. Herc could only watch as the screens showed Gipsy's core melt down and the whole mech explode. He barely heard Tendo's shouts of "The Breach is sealed!" but he sent a half-hearted smile the technicians way.

He was about to walk away when Tendo stopped him. 

"We have a second life pod from Gipsy. No life signals, but there is hope." He said with a sad look in his eyes.

Suddenly one of the Jump-hawk's radios flared into life. 

"LOCCENT, this is Olympus. We have eyes on four escape pods and visual of four survivors. I repeat four pods, four survivors. Initiating retrieval immediately. Estimated touchdown at Hong Kong Shatterdome in 20 minutes. Over and out."

This time, Herc didn't hold back the tears as a cheer went up throughout the 'Dome. 

He didn't hold back when Stacker, Chuck, Mako, and Raleigh stumbled in through the hanger doors either. He practically threw himself into Chuck's arms, much to the younger pilot's surprise.

"I am so, so immensely proud of you, son" He half sobbed. Chuck could only hold back the tears as he buried his face into his father's chest. Herc looked over to Stacker.

"Thank you" was all he could muster. Stacker gave him a look that clearly said "I know you'd do the same for me."

When he and Chuck could finally let go, Herc walked over to Raleigh and pulled him into a hug, whispering quietly to him.

"Yancy would be so proud of you right now."

"Thank you" Raleigh managed with a teary smile as he pulled back.

He then pulled Mako into his arms, which earned him another happy teary smile.

"I knew you could do it. Only you could pilot her with Raleigh Becket and come out of it unscathed." A proud smile took over Mako's face.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CS23~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Herc looked around him with a smile that night at dinner. They were safe. He lost them all, but they came back. The war was over and they were safe.

He slept very soundly that night, not even Max's snoring was able to keep him awake.

**Author's Note:**

> Well that clears my head a bit, back to Amirina :) new part soon!
> 
> ~ChuckStruck23~


End file.
